Chris…we all know you are a man of science.
You even marched in the Science Parade.
So Chris…file this one in your memory banks to pull out whenever Dave gets TOO……WELL……YOU KNOW…….

I know Dave considers himself a HUGE SPACE EXPERT…but Chris……please set Dave straight in regards to the science in regards to the courses of Voyagers 1 and 2.

At 13:36 and beyond in the podcast, Dave got all excited in explaining the Doppler effect. In fact, he got so excited, that he started spreading “FAKE NEWS” (A.K.A “ALTERNATIVE FACTS…ALA Donald Trump).
He made the outrageous claim that one of the Voyagers was launched in a totally different direction from the planetary plane…in his words “90 degrees off”…inferring that one of the Voyagers would not show a Doppler effect because it’s course was fairly perpendicular to the orbital plane of the planets.

This drivel went on until 16:02 when Dave said:
“So there you go…You don’t believe me…OK……Well go verify it for yourself…
Then at 16:18:
“Hang on…Hang on……I’m looking at the real…YEP…YEP……I’ll send you……I’ll prove it right here, right now…this is not live video but I will prove it to you…Yada…Yada…Yada.
“You learned something here….and you didn’t believe me…until I proved it to you…YADA…YADA…AD NAUSEUM…”

Just go look at the EEV Discover Chanel Voyager Videos, and I guess you’ll see one of the Voyagers being launched with a trajectory headed towards the North Star…or within 23,5 degrees of the North Star…LOL…

DING DAVE!!!…WRONG DAVE!!!….
Chris…you had it right all along…”TRUST BUT VERIFY”……

The Voyagers were launched only 16 days apart in what would have to be practically identical trajectories.

According to Wikipedia:
Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977.
Voyager 1 was launched on September 5, 1977.
They both did flyby’s of Jupiter and Saturn.
They both used Saturn to sling shot in different directions.
The direction Voyager 2 took allowed it to do a flyby’s of Uranus and Neptune.

According to Wikipedia:
Voyager 1’s relative velocity to the Sun of about 17.030 km/s.
Voyager 2’s relative velocity to the Sun is about 15.436 km/s.
The Earth’s speed as it rotates around the Sun is about 30.000 km/s.

So the fact the Earth is traveling around twice as fast as both spacecraft would logically lead one to conclude that the Doppler effect would most likely be displayed by both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 at varying points of time. I don’t think the slingshot effect could put the course of either spacecraft that far off the plane of the orbiting planets to totally erase the Doppler effect in relation to the Earth that’s moving twice the speed of either.

View the top video which shows the perspective of the two Voyagers over the years since launch.

Both craft are pretty much joined at the hip during the early years.

The only possibility of having either Voyager spacecraft doing flyby’s of two or more planets…is by having both Voyagers actually traveling within the plane of of the planetary orbits.

In the later years as both Voyagers exit the solar system…you can see the Earth orbiting quickly around the Sun. It sure looks like both Voyagers should display Doppler effects of the Earth actually moving closer to each Voyager craft during specific time frames..

Regarding Chris’s idea for the geek safari, that’s already being done on all the educational TV channels. I’d bet most people who watched Bob Ross paint fluffy little clouds didn’t end up painting much of consequence, if anything at all, but they enjoyed the experience.

The question is therefore not whether a geek safari can work, but whether you can do it *live*. All the TV shows about someone doing interesting things are in some part interesting because they’re heavily edited.

Also I had to look-up what Bill Nye’s controversial statement was.. seems like the discussion was on climate change, and he had the nerve to say people having too many kids is a part of the problem! That’s insane talk, everyone knows there is an infinite amount of resources and overpopulation is the answer!

just a word from an old weekend electronics hobbyist. are you seeking new original design in today’s cheap Chinese electronic kits?
many Chinese copy cats are good at copying stuff but some what poor at original design ideas.
so my big idea is that you as electronics engineers can make original design pcb electronic kits.
for DIY kits use part thru-hole zones with a Surface mount core on the same project circuit board. and keep one step ahead of the copy cats.
I did post this three-part pcb kit idea to an Australian electronics publication, but have seen little or no response to the idea so far.
the idea is to have three-part pcb kits. part software, part surface mount, & part thru-hole on the same pcb kit.
the software part can be like arduino or even an arduino clone, the surface mount core can be an original form factor.
say a smartwatch form factor. a 30mm x 30mm o-led screen on a mico pcb. the thru-hole zones can be DIY add on’s
or a video DVR sports camera kit or a lab power supply kit. or even a an oscilloscope kit that is better then the Chinese one’s.
three-part pcb kits are part software, part original form factor, and part DIY thru-hole pcb customization.
say you can add knobs to your oscilloscope kit if you like. in place of buttons. change the look of the graphical user interface GUI.
just like with arduino software.
lets say you with a video dvr sports camera electronic kit you can add any lens to the image sensor. change the form factor so it will fit into a tube like a model rocket, or tuck it in your shoe like 007.
IMO where the money to be made is in the original form factor & the original software mod. your kit is better then the others. lets you add more customization.
So this development idea is sadly not for me, as I am not a electronics engineer, just a weekend electronics hobbyist.
however I do buy and build many electronic kits, so give it a go if your better than me.
this is my electronic kit wish list. 🙂